Do you have a dining room in your house and do you use it?

[IrishBelle]

We are thinking of building a house and as I look at floor plans, I've found that most of them have a formal dining room.  I've never had one and therefore, don't see the need for one.  As I look at the plans, every time I come across a formal dining room, I think what  else could this room be used for - den, guest room, etc.

Does your house have one? How often do you use it?

[circa1978]

Yes. About once a month. Now that Henry is older, I'd like to start eating dinners in there on Sundays.

[youbetcha]

We are building and i insisted on one. But I grew up with one and have a large extended family. When we all get together I need/want that space. And even when it's not a crowd, I like having the space for smaller dinners.

[litebright]

We use it when my parents or other guests are here. We have a smaller table in the kitchen that we use daily.

We have an open floor plan for most of the main floor so it's not like it's a room off by itself, the space gets used. But mostly the table accumulates mail and random junk. Also, the dining area is carpeted and my DD2 in particular still drops stuff from her plate on a very regular basis, so thus far we've kind of been keeping to the kitchen where the floor is wood because it's easier to clean up/doesn't stain.

[jlt19]

We have one and use it when we have people over, which is about once a month. When not using it for it's intended purpose, it doubles as a laundry room and extra storage space for all the stuff I buy at Costco.

[wambam]

We rejected houses that had an actual dining room because we knew we'd never use it.

FWIW though, our house has a large eat-in kitchen where the table area is somewhat narrow and long and it would certainly accommodate a long "dining room" type table.

[IrishBelle]

Thanks for the replies. As I said, I've never lived in a house with a formal dining room and in our current home, we either eat at the island or the table in the kitchen.

Based on what I've seen, I'm leaning towards the designs that have a large kitchen with room for a large table (our current table seats 6) that is open to the family room.

[franklin]

In our previous house we had like a half formal dinning room, it wasn't open to the kitchen but it was open to the living room where we had a fireplace, TV, couch, etc. In our current house our dinning room is open to the kitchen (dining room table is on the other side of an island) and also open to the living room. We would eat at the dinning room table on average about three times per week. If we had an actual formal dining room we would probably only use it about two or three times a month when we have people over or when we had a "fancy" or special dinner.

[Deleted]

We have a large eat in kitchen area. We don't have a formal dining room ( separated from kitchen by walls)

[penguingrrl]

We have a formal dining room, but a tiny kitchen, so we eat in the dining room every meal. I would love a formal dining room and an eat in kitchen. When I was a kid we had both and ate Sunday dinner and every holiday in the formal dining room and it helped make the day feel more special IMO. This is coming from the prospective of a child, but I was the type to tiptoe carefully through our pretty formal dining room.

[nsl]

Ours is really just an extension of our living room, but we do eat at that table for dinner every night. The eat-in kitchen is nice, but it's also where DS 1 does homework and both boys do art projects. Rather than cleaning it off of that stuff every day we just started eating in the dining room.

[tacokick]

I do. We have an older house and no eat-in kitchen though. We have a dining room set and a small desk w/computer in there.

[usuallylurking]

Yes, and I'd say we eat dinner in there at least 4 times a week, plus all breakfasts and the kids have their lunches there. However, it is an open-ish area; open to the kitchen as well as the living room (think like an L), with a partial wall between the dining area and entry way. I love it, and it works when we have large gatherings, too.

[mich1]

We have a bar we eat at in the kitchen when it is just SO and me. When we have guests, we need to find the bottom of the dining room table as it tends to be a catch all for everything.

The dining room also has a bar in it, where we stash the booze and cases of wine.

[SpartanGirl]

We don't have a dining room, and I wish we did. We have a very small eat in kitchen, and I know that if we had a dining room we'd use it. It's hard to cram 6 people into the space we currently have

[themoneytree]

Yes and no we don't use it (except for holidays and special occasions). We do have another dining table in our kitchen area though and we use that a lot. I would want somewhere to eat around a table whether it were a dining room or other convenient space.

[JayhawkGirl]

I host pretty much every family holiday so ours gets used frequently. It's nice when we have people over - adults usually end up in the dining room and kids in the eat in kitchen.

I use the big table for wrapping, projects, etc also.

[macmars45]

I've never lived in a home with a formal dining room or an eat in kitchen. Just regular dining rooms next to the kitchen.

[firedancer10288]

We use it once a year when we host Christmas dinner. Other than that the table is a crap collector.

[PandaPear]

We have a formal dining room and formal living room.  They've been used twice - once for hosting Tday and once for hosting a large baby shower. 

[julygal]

We converted our dining room to a den/kids rec room. Our eat in kitchen space is large and the table seats 6 with the ability to expand to seat 10 if needed. We also have bar stools at our island and a large dining table on our patio that gets used year round. It seemed a waste to have a 4th place to eat.

[Deleted]

Yes, it's used on the rare occasion we have people for dinner, and for my kids to do their homework.
My future Reno plans involve extending the kitchen eating area so more people can fit, and reducing the size of the dining room to make it an office.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

We don't, and I wish we did. I hate cooking and eating in the same room. Though I don't cook allllll that often at home so I guess it doesn't matter lol

[McGavin]

We don't have a formal dining room I guess. We have a large room with a sitting area at one end and our dining table at the other. We don't have a table in our kitchen so we use our dining table everyday.

[gretchenindisguise]

We will at our new place. It will be a playroom instead.

[rooster222]

We do have one but if our kitchen could accommodate a very large table iI'd be happy without it.

When we have friends over, the adults eat in the dining room and the kids eat in the kitchen. It's kind of nice to have the option to separate I guess.

[pooh8402]

we have one, and we don't use it except to fold laundry, or for the very occasional dinner party (maybe twice a year). it is currently the prettiest room in my house though. DH and I plan to convert it into an office for him, and his current office into an eventual playroom. we just haven't decided what to do with the current dining room furniture. it was a wedding gift from my mother, and it is very nice. we would like to store it but have no room in our small attic, and don't want to pay for a storage space, even a small one.

[gretchenindisguise]

Oh and if we ever host I'll probably rent table and chairs.

[FloFTW]

Yes and that's where we eat. The kitchen table is artwork/games.

[themysteriouswife]

We moved from a house with an eat in kitchen and dining area. We used the dining room all the time. Our current rental only has one eating area and I hate it. The new house we are moving to has both again and I cannot wait. We have friends over often. We put the kids in the kitchen and adults in the dining area. We eat at the dining table every meal.